fearless
by sweetheartyy
Summary: Living in Japan isn't what she thought it would be like as interesting cases, talented spirituals and endearing coworkers make their way into the heart of Hashimoto Hanae, the childhood friend of SPR's very own Oliver Davis. Naru/OC
1. the zoo

_He was cruel._

 _Her hands rubbed at her tears roughly, her skirt brushing against the marble floors in the walk way of the household as she bent down to reach for the broken pieces scattered across the floor in front of her. Her heart felt heavy and she knew that her mother would be upset that she'd broken it, but it wasn't entirely her fault. She glanced upwards at the boy standing over her, his face cold and his body set stiffly in front of her._

 _The silence between the two broke as heels clicked against the floors and a frantic woman rounded the corner, "I heard you two were bickering aga- oh my." The woman stopped when she saw the situation and she turned her attention to her son. "Oliver, what's happened this time?"_

 _Noll's blue eyes flashed towards the hazel eyed girl. "She's an idiot."_

 **June**

The ring of a bell awoke her.

There was something covering her face and she turned her head, immediately becoming aware that she was suffocating. Her fingers swiped out in front of her and she clawed at the pillow being pressed against her face harshly, her cries coming out muffled and her breath shortened. She couldn't breath. And she couldn't think straight. Suddenly, the weight let up and she bolted into a sitting position instantly.

No one else was in her bachelor suite, just as she expected. No one living at least.

It took her a moment to compose herself and when she finally managed to get her breathing back to the normal rate she became hyper aware of the way the back of her neck pricked uncomfortably. There was a dark shadow in the corner of her room, simply watching her. She ignored it and hugged the pillow that almost killed her to her chest and pushed back until she was pressed against her headboard.

She stayed there for the rest of the night, staring ahead of her and ignoring the shadow but making sure it didn't leave her vision and try anything else in it's attempt at getting her attention. The blue shine of the moon on her floorboards eventually gave way and she watched the light move around her room as the sun rose slowly, listening to the world around her wake up.

Three sharp knocks against her apartment door jolted her from the trance she was in and she glanced upwards slowly, unsure if it was the door or the spirits attempt at getting her attention. Another three sharp knocks.

Hanae smiled wryly. Only one person could be so boring, even through a door.

Her feet were cold against the floor as she made her way meekly through the apartment, hopping over unpacked boxes laying around and twisting the knob to her door. She forgot to lock it last night. Opps. When she pulled open the door she was met with the sight of a person she hadn't seen in a year, and while she had intended to remain aloof she couldn't help the way her stomach dropped at the sight of him.

He was taller, his shoulders were broader, his jaw was more defined, and his eyes were so much more solemn than she remembered them being. He's grown up well despite the circumstances and she suddenly felt very self conscious in his presence when she saw the way his eyes had widened in the smallest fraction at the sight of her dark eye circles and her frail frame.

"Hanae." His voice trailed off slightly and he seemed unsure of how to react.

Hanae pushed away the disappointment and embarrassment and ran her hand through her honey brown hair. "Oliver, it's been a while." She paused. "Wait, you go by Naru here, right? Funny cause it's the Japanese pronunciation of Noll. What a coincidence-"

"You are not dressed accordingly." Naru stepped into her apartment as she turned away, his eyes roaming the boxes and mess in the bachelor suite. "These boxes still have tape on them. You've been here three days and you haven't even started unpacking."

Hanae rolled her eyes and glanced down at her sleeping clothes before walking over to a random box, ripping it open and digging around in the clothes. She pulled out a simple loosely fit button up and jeans, ignoring his watchful eyes and going to the washroom to clean up and get dressed for her first day at work. Though she doubted the routine wouldn't be any different from the one she had in England.

When she emerged from the washroom, Naru seemed perfectly impatient. Not a single hair displaced on his head and yet his eyes held that familiar glint.

He took in her hair, loose and flowing freely. "You are much too casual, you will be meeting your new coworkers today." He sighed and seemed to give up when he saw that she didn't react to his words and turned around to head outside. "Let's go."

The two walked silently to the car and she slowed her steps so she wasn't walking beside him, and pulled open the door and sliding into the back seat. Lin looked at her in the review mirror and his eyes widened in the slightest. " _Miss Hanae_." Wow, if she had gotten a reaction out of Lin then she must really look like crap.

She had to admit that the past months had been terrible to her. One of her closest friends had gone missing and his body was in a lake somewhere. Her grandmother had passed away and her abilities had suddenly spiked, leaving her back to square one. Terrified and unsure of how to handle the situations she got herself into.

When she was a young girl, seeing other things no one else could meant that she saw shadows or smelt or heard something only she could, most of the time very briefly. However she no longer saw faint outlines but instead full on ghosts, and sometimes they looked so real that she would start talking to one and then realize halfway through the conversation or halfway through getting the life chocked out of her that damn, this person with the very pale face was a FREAKIN' GHOST.

Apparently she wasn't very good between distinguishing between a real live person or a ghost but that was okay, she eventually figured it out. The worst part however was the sleep. She never got enough of it. Those buggers were literally everywhere.

But she wasn't complaining.

Not one bit.

She was sleeping only two to three hours a night and it only made her look like a tired crackhead so it wasn't too bad.

"Hanae."

She jerked awake in the back seat and immediately looked for the voice and found that Naru was staring back at her impassively. She fell asleep on the ride here without even realizing it. "What's up?" She looked at him curiously and he sighed softly, not bothering to answer her and instead moved to get out of the car, leaving her to unbuckle herself and simply follow after him silently. "I feel like a child again..." She mumbled to herself.

Lin was driving, Naru in the front seat leading them to some mysterious place, and Gene... She glanced at the empty seat to her side before swallowing down the lump in her throat.

Gene was gone.

"Everyone is very loud and intrusive." Naru suddenly started talking as they made their way up the stairs. "Just a fair warning."

"Got ya." Hanae yawned loudly and watched as he pulled open the door to SPR. For a moment she closed her eyes as she entered, very briefly. The atmosphere was warm and the scent of tea was lingering, the chatter of small talk and clanks of a spoon sliding across a tea cup filled the air. It felt so homely, despite the owner of the place being Naru, who was cold and blunt with his words.

Then there was quick footsteps and sweet voice, belonging to someone who looked just as sweet as her voice. "Naru!" She stopped short and her bright brown eyes widened, her shoulder length hair swishing against her shoulders. "And Hashimoto-san!" Lin shoved past Hanae when she simply stood in the doorway. "Lin-san too."

Naru adjusted the cuff of his sleeve as he moved forward and Hanae followed after him quietly. "Mai, this is Hashimoto Hanae. You will be giving her a tour of the building and the surrounding area, she tends to space out and get lost-" He stopped. "Actually, Lin will give Hanae the area tour, seeing as you both are likely to get lost together."

"Excuse me?"

"That's rude."

Hanae and Mai both paused when they spoke at the same time, turning to look at each other with curious eyes.

Naru blinked slowly. "You're both on the same wavelength. I'm unsure if that's a good thing."

" _Naru_!" They both snapped.

His lips curved upwards in the slightest. "Mai, don't forget to introduce our newest employee to the rest of the zoo." He turned around swiftly and began walking once more. "I'll be in my office."

The door clicked shut and Hanae sighed softly and turned to the brown haired girl. "He's infuriating."

"You got that right." Mai crossed her arms and the two stood there in silence, relishing in their anger at the blue eyed male. Mai clapped her hands together after a moment and flashed a bright smile at the other girl. "I'll introduce you to everyone! They're all so excited to see who is good enough in Naru's standards that he hired you."

Naru didn't exactly have a choice, but they didn't need to know that. Hanae nodded slowly. "Right." Mai led her to the seating area which originally must be for clients, however the couches were occupied by four individuals, each of them quieting down as the two girls entered the room. Hanae bowed when she realized they were waiting for her to introduce herself. "I'm Hashimoto Hanae, and I'll be working with you from now on."

The blond foreigner standing at the shelf was the first to speak. "I'm John Brown, nice to meet ya."

Hanae blinked in shock. This dude spoke oddly.

Mai must have seen her shocked look and giggled. "John learned his Japanese from the countryside, so he speaks with a kansai accent."

"Ohh, that's cool." Hanae smiled and bowed to him when he returned her gesture.

"I'm a monk from mount koya." The brown haired man stood swiftly, running a hand through his hair. "I'm also in a band on the side."

"You have hair." Hanae retorted and the red haired woman let out a snort in amusement which caused the monk to give her a glare.

The red head stood, smacking the monk in the chest as she did. "Bou-san ran away from his duties on mount Koya." She left no room for him to argue and smirked at Hanae. "I'm Matsuzaki Ayako, a shrine maiden."

Hanae tilted her head in confusion. "And which shrine did you run away from?" Bou-san let out a barking laugh. As far as Hanae was up to date with, shrine maidens were virgin girls. Not foxy ladies with an attitude.

Mai let out a nervous laugh and steered the honey haired girl to a younger person. "This is probably the normal one of the group-"

The black haired male bowed lowly, outstretching his hand and grabbing hers, giving the back it a brief kiss. "How do you do, my lady." He stood straight and gave her a flirtatious smile. Hanae give Mai an odd look and the brown haired girl managed to look embarrassed. "My name is Yasuhara Osamu, you can call me Yasu. I must say that you have the loveliest hair I've ever seen."

Bou-san looked over like he discovered something, pointing his finger at Yasuhara. "Shounen!"

"Oh, Bou-san! You are the light of my-" Hanae turned away as Yasuhara threw himself at Bou-san with a star struck gaze.

She sighed softly. "Zoo indeed."

"Pardon?" Mai tilted her head as she stared at her.

Hanae shrugged. "Nothing."

"Oh... well I'm Taniyama Mai." Mai grinned giddily. "I'm excited to work with you." She bowed lowly.

Hanae returned the gesture. "Nice to meet you."

* * *

 **sorry i jumped into things really quickly, but i don't normally like to dwandle on writing useless long descriptions on the first chapter cause i mean? we're all here to see the interactions with the original characters and how the plot moves along, no use to stretch things out.**

 **reviews would be appreciated :)**


	2. doomed

**July  
Day 1**

A month after she started attending an international high school in the Tokyo area, Hanae found a good flow to her life.

She would attend school and the days that she wasn't doing school work she was either doing office work for Naru, though she barely even saw him outside of work. He seemed to avoid her, speaking with her as less as he could and becoming someone she was unfamiliar with. She ignored that aspect of him and simply did as he asked because she didn't want to step on anyone's toes.

Mai had been working with Naru and Lin for a year before she showed up and they had a routine that she disrupted. She didn't want to cause any problems.

An office door opened. "Hanae, look through the mail and throw out the useless letters."

Hanae barely looked up from her own desk before she saw Naru's black hair disappear back into his office and sighed, turning her head to glance at the pile of letters at the front door. She pushed herself from the chair and went to the grab them, returning to her seat and rifling through the envelopes swiftly, looking for any ones in English.

She stopped.

 _Martin Davis_.

A letter from his father. She smirked in amusement. How old fashion those two were, a simple fax would do. When she glanced up, Mai was practically falling over in her chair as she leaned to attempt a sneak at the mail Hanae had in her hands. She smiled at Mai and stood, dropping the pile of other envelopes on the brown haired girls desk.

"You can look through those." She said in amusement and walked by to head to Naru's office.

Mai quickly swiped through the envelopes, her lip protruding when she saw that it was all junk mail and glanced up, her eyes latching onto the single envelope in Hanae's hands before she disappeared into the office. There was something weird about Naru and Hanae's relationship. Naru was cold to her sometimes, unusually so, but he trusted her to do important jobs and he never made her do the grunt work.

Hanae got to sort through the mail and the emails sent to the office, something that Mai is never allowed to do because "she wasn't capable" of it, apparently. She was also called into Naru and Lin's offices occasionally, and she handled financial statements, as Mai had once seen her doing over her shoulder. Renting this office was crazy expensive monthly!

Most of all, Hanae never ever had to make tea. Naru always called Mai to do it, and she could never put up an argument because he always specifically said her name when he was ordering for the beverage. Plus, he never said please.

The manners of the boy was preposterous.

When Hanae exited the office, Mai was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed and pouting at the pile of junk mail. She couldn't help teasing the girl. She was so easily riled up and was so charming all the time, despite her short temper.

Hanae enjoyed working with Mai.

Walking around their desks, she sat down the spinning chair and turned to the brown haired girl. "Did you want to get something to eat after? I'll pay."

Mai's face brightened. "I would love to!"

And so that's how their days went for the rest of the week, sorting through junk mail and answering phone calls that went absolutely nowhere. Hanae eventually found herself restless and extremely tired, as the same entity was still residing in her apartment and stopping her from sleeping full nights. She felt guilty that she was happy when a new client came looking for their help, as their case seemed quite serious.

A man named Yoshimi Akifumi came in on a weekend all the way from the seaside to seek their help. He wanted them to see strange marks that resembled burns that were around the neck and in writings down the back of his niece, a young girl named Hazuki. According to the Yoshimi family that ran an inn together, there was something sinister around their family. They claimed that every time their family head changed, bad things would happen.

"Thirty-two years ago, when my grandfather passed away, eight people died one after the other. The time before that five of my mother's siblings died in rapid succession, leaving only her." Yoshimi Hiroe, the mother of Akifumi, explained with a grim expression shortly after they arrived at the Yoshimi Inn. Her husband, Taizo sat at her side stiffly. Hiroe continued. "And just a few days ago after my father passed away, those bruises appeared on Hazuki."

Naru nodded slowly, expression controlled. "I understand."

For this case only Ayako and Bou-san were called in, so the group was able to sit in the small room where the family heads greeted them upon their arrival. They were getting briefed on the cases details once more for confirmation but sitting stiffly with her feet tucked understand her made Hanae uncomfortable.

The summer heat was creeping down her neck and she was glad she had her hair in a bun, otherwise she'd surely be even hotter. Granted she was wearing jeans but she couldn't bring herself to dress so casually when they were in an inn that obviously was kind of expensive.

She sat beside Lin and avoided the eyes of the Yoshimi couple. She didn't want to be anywhere near them, with their bad family history who knows what lurked around them. They had a huge family and they all lived in the inn surrounded by death. It would be a nightmare for her.

Hanae cringed.

She was already feeling that familiar uncomfortable prick at the back of her neck, like she was being watched.

"My team will set up equipment and-"

Hiroe cut in, "We were planning to have lunch first and this could give you the chance to see everyone in the same room." She smiled politely at Naru and bowed. "I would love to repay you in any way possible, so please join us."

"Alright." Naru agreed and anyone who didn't know him any better wouldn't have realized that he was reluctant in his decision. He was probably restless to get started on the case and setting up to make sure they didn't miss anything while they were here.

Their family was already there, each of them sitting down around a long table with cushions underneath their feet. There were open seats at the end the table and Hanae made a beeline for one of the seats in the middle so she wouldn't have to sit near any of the family members.

The atmosphere was bad.

They all sat uncomfortably quiet and every time her chopsticks clinked against her plate she cringed on the inside and looked up to see if one of them were gonna snap and yell at her. Clearly, they were unwelome-

A loud bang made her jump. "Why did you call these people here?!" It was that man, Eijiro, he had slammed down his glass and was glaring at them. He flashed his intense stare towards Hiroe and Taizo. "Shouldn't we tell them the full story?!" He was still yelling and she would have taken the moment to tell him to calm down but she stopped herself.

"The full story?" She repeated and immediately turned to Naru for his reaction.

Teruka placed her hand against Eijiro's arm. "Hey, not around the guests!"

Eijiro shrugged her off and narrowed his eyes. "I'm only saying it out of concern for them, shouldn't we tell them the whole story!" When he turned to the rest of the family and saw that they only lowered their heads he zeroed his gaze in on Naru. "32 years ago, the eight family members weren't the only ones who died." He informed them.

Hanae instantly had a bad feeling and she shifted uneasily in her place.

"What do you mean?" Naru asked and she saw the way his hand clenched slightly underneath the table.

It took a moment but Taizo sighed softly. "Maybe we ought to tell them everything after all..."

Hiroe closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly. "The truth is that during that time we had three other guests outside the family that passed away too. All of them were spiritualists." She shook her head before looking towards Naru with a pleading look. "You have to understand, you're our last hope. We've been trying to figure this out for years."

Naru blinked slowly. "I see."

They all sat in silence once more and their boss stood slowly, simply turning and walking from the room without a word. Hanae scrambled up from her place, feeling distraught at his sudden exit and bowed to Hiroe and Taizo. "Thanks for the food." Then she slid the door open and walked down the hall and a few moments later more footsteps followed her.

"W-we just need a moment." Mai's voice echoed down the hall as they all walked towards their base.

As they filed into the room Hanae stood with her arms crossed and watched with hawk eyes as Naru eventually moved to sit in an armchair near the window. She walked to stop in front of him and watched as he slowly lifted his head to stare at her through his bangs. "What are we gonna do?" She questioned blankly.

Naru heaved out a breath. "Just give me a moment."

"No." Hanae shook her head firmly. She knew that he already had his mind set about the whole thing so it didn't matter what any one said or what argument they provided against his choice. He knew if they were staying or not but he was just trying to figure out how to say it in a way that wouldn't set off the ticking time bombs like Mai and Bou-san. She narrowed her eyes, "Tell me."

"I said wait." Naru opened his eyes and turned his piercing gaze up to her, knuckles tightening.

"I know that you already made your mind up." She could feel the burning stares at her back as the others watched them argue for dominance but she knew that if she asked him when they were alone he probably would have ignored her anyway.

" _Hanae_." The temperature around her dropped and goosebumps rose against her skin.

Behind her, Lin stood from his seat. "Please settle down."

Naru ran his tongue over his teeth inside his mouth, his insides hot with anger but he made sure to hide any of the traces of anger on his face from the others. He saw the way that she stared down at him stubbornly that she knew he wouldn't snap at her cause they were in front of the others. Sly girl.

He ripped his eyes away from her's and turned his attention to everyone else. "We're staying."

"What?" Mai's eyes widened and she straightened in her seat.

Ayako jumped up and stared at the younger boy in bewilderment. "Are you crazy!" She yelped and pointed towards the door. "They said three spiritualist! Three died here and you wanna stay?"

Naru brushed his bangs away from his eyes lightly. "We're staying and if you're the only one against it you could leave." He informed her with a blank voice and he watched as the red head turned to the others for some back up but they only averted their eyes. He knew from the way that she was quiet Mai was staying, and now the only real one who could actually put up a decent argument with some logic was Bou-san.

The older man seemed to be thinking with his hands clasped together, his eyes staring intently at the ground. He tilted his head slightly as if unsure before turning to look at the blue eyed teenager with a firm nod. "I agree, we should stay."

Hanae clapped her hands together. "Then it's settled." She glanced over her shoulder at the older boy with a smirk. "Was that so hard?" She took slight amusement in the way his eyes flashed dangerously.

* * *

After informing Akifumi of their decision to stay they actually learned something very interesting. Eijiro used to be a nice guy! Not only Eijiro though, Akifumi explained hat recently all of his brothers and other people have been acting impulsive and on edge ever since their grandfather died. Their dogs also died afterwards as well and their bodies washed up on the shore and Hanae briefly thought back to the cliff.

Also, there were two other children besides Hazuki and they were acting the weirdest. Hazuki's older brother Katsuki and Teruka's little girl Wakako were always sticking close together despite having never been really close and they were always whispering things to each other.

A chill ran up her spine uncomfortably. Children and dolls were always the creepiest during hauntings.

The rest of the afternoon was spent setting up and Hanae wanted to get a good feel of the place, see if there were specific areas to avoid.

She carried the equipment from the van to the rooms, setting them up accordingly and making sure that the wires on the grounds wouldn't be in anyone's way. Clicking the power button on a camera set up in the main hall, she looked into the lens to make sure that everything was in view before she turned and headed back to the van only to realize that almost all of the cameras had been set up, but the TV's and other equipment meant for base was still in the van for Lin and Bou-san to carry.

A soft breeze on the back of her neck made her turn her head and she smiled lightly at the setting sun, breathing in the fresh air.

"It's a nice day today."

Hanae smiled. "Yes, very." She turned and saw an older man standing behind her with a relaxed smile. "How are you doing?"

The man tilted his head. "Great, I'm enjoying this wondering weather and having a conversation with a pretty lady-" Ayako exited the inn and walked straight through the man with a confused expression.

Hanae's stomach dropped.

Ayako glanced around. "Who are you talking to?'

"M-myself." Hanae forced a smile and when she glanced at the area where the man previously was, he was gone. "Let's go inside."

"Great, that brat Naru is gonna boss us around some more." Ayako mumbled and the two began walking inside.

It was during the time that Mai had been sent out to fix the angle of a camera Naru wasn't pleased with when there was a huge thump followed by a loud scream. It didn't take them long to get to the area where the commotion was happening but they stopped at the door when they saw that Eijiro was being held back by the others with a knife held tightly in his palm, screaming as he attempted to get at Teruka.

"Lin!" Naru snapped and the Chinese man stepped forward quickly as Eijiro got loose from his holds and he wrapped his arm around Eijiro's neck, knocking him out cold. The man hit the floor shortly afterwards and Hanae took a look at the knife in the floor and moved into action, gripping the handle and pulling it from the ground before turning to the others that were still regrouping.

"Is everyone okay?"

When they confirmed that no one was hurt, they regrouped at base.

According to Teruka she'd been scolding him for his rude attitude at the dinner table when he just left and came back shortly with a knife from the kitchen.

Bou-san turned to Naru, "So it's spirit possession then?"

"If that's the case then we'll have to call John. Until then," Naru glanced upwards towards Ayako. "Do you think you could attempt to drive the spirit out for now?"

Ayako shifted in her place and turned her eyes towards the brown haired male. "I understand, but what about Bou-san?"

"I don't want to try because I'm not sure what'll happen." Bou-san placed his chin into his palm as he thought back carefully.

Mai tilted her head. "What will happen?"

"I've driven a spirit possessing a jar before..." Bou-san started uneasily and watched as Mai's expression changed from confused to interested and he puffed out his chest slightly. "But the jar broke afterwards. I don't want to take any chances." Seeming amazed Mai looked at the older man in a new perspective.

"And you call yourself a spiritualist?" Ayako snickered while she flipped her hair over her shoulder and sending the monk a stare full of cockiness. "You mean you've never driven a spirit out of someone before?"

Hanae crossed her arms over her chest. "Anyway, back to the problem. Who's to say that he's not gonna get up and try to stab someone else next? He's not just gonna be happy with being tied up and he's a grown man so the binds won't hold for long if he struggles enough." She took in the way everyone considered her words and she turned to the boss. "So what's it gonna be, Naru?"

Naru looked up sharply at Ayako and caught her attention. "Would you be up for it?"

"Well, yeah..." She hesitated for a moment and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Then it's not my fault if it just possesses another person then."

"That's fine, it's better than leaving Eijiro possessed like this." Naru nodded.

Personally, Hanae thought that leaving Eijiro possessed until John came and they could have a clean exorcism was best. At least for now they knew who was possessed and if Ayako just drove the spirit into another person no one would know who was possessed until they came at them with a knife unsuspecting. But then again, what if Eijiro woke up and broke out of the binds?

Yeah, she should just keep her mouth shut and let Naru call the shots.

* * *

Eijiro jerked awake with wide eyes, immediately looking up at Ayako with an intense expression.

Ayako remained calm as she continued on with her verse, never once opening her eyes and showing that she was startled by the mans behaviour. "-I ask that my humble plea may be heard, that peace and calm may be granted..." Still bound by the ropes around his hands, Eijiro had no other choice but to slowly start dragging his way to the red head. "May this place be as the High, Heavenly Plain. May the kami from all corners come together. May the kami from all corners come together."

Hanae's eyes widened slightly when an aura slowly started raising from Eijiro's body, it's dark colour full of remorse and hate lingering in the air around his body. "It's working." She whispered in amazement. She'd never seen a Japanese priestess perform her rituals before as in England the Catholic Church always dealt with these kinds of things.

Her eyes followed the dark aura as it grew bigger and bigger until the atmosphere was heavy and the aura formed some kind of fox over Eijiro.

"Lin, get Mai out of here!" Naru's voice sliced through her thoughts but she didn't bother glancing behind her to see how much of a panic Naru or Mai were in. She wanted to see how this played out.

Eijiro's maniac laughter filled the room as he threw his head back, relishing in the strength the spirit was providing him with.

Ayako opened her eyes and stared straight again. "Praise be to the goddess Marishiten. I pray thee, descend, and grant us thy divine protection!" Ayako clapped her hands together to complete it all and in reaction the huge fox bristled before shooting forward, warmth and a heavy air brushing against Hanae's face as it flew past her.

Mai was the first to realize where it was headed. "Naru!"

Hanae's blood ran cold and she watched with a horrified expression when she realized that the boy wasn't going to move. His stance looked like he was ready to fight and it was clear to her that he thought he could take it and somehow manage to stop it. But for him that was impossible, not without Gene to balance him out. She reached out uselessly with her hand, "Stop!"

"Don't do it!" Lin also seemed to have the same idea as her and Naru's narrowed eyes suddenly flickered and his stance relaxed as he let go. The fox flew right into the male, going into his body as a quick pace. Naru grunted as he hit the wall and then slid until he was sitting against it, leaning forward and coughing into his hand violently.

Everyone ran to his rescue, surrounding him and asking if he was alright.

"I'm fine. Check on Eijiro-san." He suddenly spoke gaining their attention and drawing their eyes to him. He attempted to ignore the sudden ache in his chest and the way his head was pounding suddenly. "Let's head back to base and regroup after we finish explaining to him what happened." He used his hand to steady himself and Hanae narrowed her eyes, reaching forward to grab a hold of his forearm.

"Are you alright?" She asked cautiously.

Naru yanked away from her with a cold look. "I'm fine." He told her sharply and walked down the hall.

A while later when everyone was gathered in base, Mai looked over the tapes from the recording earlier only to find that everything was static and they had no real videos of the whole event. Bou-san seemed quiet intrigued and most of the attention was on the information lost that no one seemed to notice that Naru still unnaturally quiet while he sat in an arm chair.

Hanae knew had it been any other time he would be having a fit right about now, and he probably would have run off to find somewhere to cry to himself and clear his head but he simply sat quietly, so unlike himself. Slowly standing from her place on the ground she walked over until she stood in front of him, "Are you really alright?" He opened his mouth to tell her that he was but she wasn't having it. "Naru." Her voice had taken on a warning tone and he paused.

He seemed to be pondering something before he shifted in his seat after a few moments, "My back just hurts a little."

Hanae sighed softly and reached for him to pull him to stand up. The others turned to the two curiously and she gave them a reassuring smile. "His back just hurts a little, so he's going to lie down for a while." She told them and didn't bother to listen to what they said after and instead watched him closely as they walked from the room. He hadn't put up any fight at all, so his back must have really hurt. "Which way was your room again?" She asked as they walked down the hall for a few moments.

He remained silent.

"Naru?" She stopped and turned to look at him curiously only her stomach dropped and she attempted to take a step backwards but he closed in on her, eyes dark with emotion as he wrapped his hands around her neck. "Noll!" She shrieked in panic and was unable to do anything as he lifted her until the tips of her toes just barely touched the ground. She wrapped her hands around his wrists and tried to pry them from her neck but they wouldn't budge.

When had he gotten so strong?

She kicked out frantically but his grip on her increased and she attempted to scream, but her breath wasn't coming out or going in and she was feeling very lightheaded. She'd been caught totally off guard and barely had time to think before her voice was cut off and she was caught in a life threatening situation, unable to do anything other than clutch his wrist and hand tightly, her fingernails digging into his skin.

Then there was pounding footsteps and she briefly caught sight of Lin's panicked eyes before he hit the back of Naru's neck sharply and the two of them crumpled to the floor. Before he could grab a hold of her again she back crawled away until she was near Bou-san as the older man looked at her neck to see if there was any serious damaging.

He hissed at the bruising that seems to come out of nowhere. "Ayako, you're better with this, come look at her neck."

As Ayako came over, Hanae turned her attention of Naru's unconscious form. "So he's been possessed by that thing. I think it's safe to say that we should be tying him up with rope like we did with Eijiro-san." And much more, but Hanae didn't say that aloud cause Lin would for sure kill her if she gave even the slightest hint that Naru had any kind of abilities to the others.

But rope wouldn't hold back Naru.

"I take care of it. He's gonna be okay." Lin was telling the others and it took her a moment to take notice that his eyes lingered on her for a moment longer and she realized he was mainly talking to her.

"Okay." She nodded.

Ayako frowned as the girl suddenly spoke and she cast a look between the teenager and Lin, but the two of them were no longer looking at each other. Maybe she was imagining things but Lin almost seemed like his words were directed at Hanae. Which would make sense considering that Naru and her were childhood friends but their way of communicating seemed a little odd.

Shaking the feeling away, Ayako pulled the girl to stand. "You're gonna be okay, it just seems to be bruising."

Hanae only nodded and they all headed back to base where they layed Naru in a futon and discussed what they were doing. After a while it was concluded that Naru would remain in a paralysis state and that Lin's shiki would stay with him, which left the Chinese man completely defenseless. They would attempt to do the work and research without their boss while they waited for John to finally make it to their location.

Bou-san nodded silently. "Then that's the plan."

Unable to do anything, Hanae let out a loud sign as she turned her head upwards to stare at the ceiling.

They were doomed.


End file.
